Issue 063
“Tell him I’m not here”…. “Just change that figure, will you?”….. “I know we didn’t eat there but let’s claim it anyway”….. “Yes, but they don’t know that do they?”….. “Yes sir, that’s exactly what you need”….. “How much for you to get that through customs no questions asked?”
These little dilemmas are the tip of the moral iceberg aren’t they? Sometimes the choice is not even between right and wrong, but between wrong and wrong. Most employers know that integrity is good business, especially in the long-term, but it doesn’t always stop individuals from facing dilemmas, does it? I can’t address complex issues in one short piece but I can make one point. The real problem for many in difficult situations is fear. And the ultimate fear is that of job loss. “If I speak out, whistle blow, make my stand, will I lose my job?”
And the answer is, “Possibly you will.”. “But will I lose my security?” Not if it is in Jesus Christ; he is the one who says “Your heavenly Father knows what you need.” He promises that our real needs will always be met. That’s why he says, “do not worry.”
When the corporate scandals finally hit the headlines there always seems to be a conspiracy of greed, silence and corruption. But for some of the players the reason for their behaviour comes down to fear – fear that is borne out of a lack of sense that there is a higher power who directs our lives and who, if we trust him, is our security. For others, of course, that lack of the sense of God leads them to believe they a can get away with their corruption.
In the end God is the ultimate employer. At this point his means of provision for you is via your company but if that goes he has not run out of ideas. Just because we can’t see a way of making ends meet, it doesn’t mean that he can’t either. Maybe that’s how Paul had learnt the secret of contentment in all situations. Somehow he’d learnt to see past the meat and the wool to the Shepherd.
Philippians 4:10-13
10I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Matthew 5:25-34
25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? 28″And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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Geoff Shattock
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